The production of a vegetable milk by extraction from a slurry of ground soy bean meal has been practiced heretofore. Essentially the soy bean milk is precipitated as a curd and a whey; the curd has a number of desired functional and nutritional values. However, impeding exploitation of these values have been limitations or problems associated with the instability of the product.
An object of the invention is to provide a dried form of soy curd having a better nutritional value than more conventional soy protein derivatives derived from soy bean meal but which at the same time has less of a "grainy" or nutty beany flavor and less of the flatulent sugars which so characterize many soy bean preparations. Desirably this protein preparation should represent competitive usable protein value in relation to other sources of protein supplementation such as milk solids, beef by-products, egg white and cheese powders.
Of paramount importance to this art is the provision of a curd preparation having flavor and odor characteristics which do not require masking by other flavors; in view of rising dairy costs and costs of other protein supplements both domestically and abroad a definite need exists for such an economical and highly nutritious product that can be substituted freely for other fortifying adjuncts in foodstuffs. The accompanying description of preferred embodiments of this product should be derived by a process wherein the soy bean per se is the starting material rather than soy bean meal or flakes that have been defatted by oil extraction through solvent extraction. The product recovery should be in a stable usable form without substantial denaturation.